Development Journal VI - Fog of War, Exploration, Random NPCs and Roving Bands
Hi folks,
Today, we'll dive deeper into "Erannorth Renaissance" and discuss exploration, NPCs, and random encounters. Feel free to skip right into the latest video where I go into greater detail on today's topics, or continue reading!
"Erannorth Renaissance" is a Choose Your Own Adventure game featuring combat and exploration on a hex grid. Besides offering a story-rich experience, it also provides a sandbox environment where players can pursue their own agendas and explore its vast world.
[h2]Fog of War and Exploration[/h2]
The world is now covered in a dark layer of mist that gets lifted as you explore. I felt that knowing the layout beforehand detracted from the feeling of exploration and discovery and also made it extremely easy to avoid hostile warbands. Now, the world gets progressively uncovered as you explore it, and certain tiles can be revealed after learning about their location from an NPC.
[h2]Roving Bands[/h2]
The roving bands are hostile groups of enemies that may appear in adjacent tiles as you explore the world. While some have their own agenda and may not engage with you, others may seek you out and engage in combat. Alternatively, you can proactively engage them. Roving Bands can't follow you into towns, nor will they interrupt you while you are in the middle of a story, as the story itself could have its own encounters to fight. However, be cautious, as they may now be hiding in the fog of war.
[h2]Random NPCs[/h2]
The residential district tiles, which occupy the largest part of towns, are now populated by both scripted NPCs and random NPCs. All their traits are procedurally generated, and the interactions with them are handcrafted but random. So, how does this work? When you visit a tile with random NPCs for the first time, these NPCs are permanently assigned to that tile and become residents. They are also assigned a schedule, making them interactable in said tile during a specific segment of the day.
Before interacting with any of them, they are considered strangers. After you interact with them, they can eventually become enemies, rivals, acquaintances, friends, or even lovers (if they are romanceable by your character and you have romances active). Each of these categories comes with a very large pool of random interactions or activities to engage with these NPCs, so they'll feel unique and alive, and the towns livelier.
The initial interactions with these NPCs are role-playing, and you can choose to be nice to them or not. And there is no correct or wrong way to go about it, as each choice you make will open up different opportunities for interaction with them. Eventually, impressing them will get harder; you'll start seeing events that require using your skills to impress them, go out on dates, ask for their help, and many other things.
Please note that the video below contains minor spoilers from the very early game.
This is a very early alpha build of the game (version 0.4.52), and there's still much work ahead. Many elements, such as art and items, are currently placeholders. Therefore, everything we'll see today may change by the time you get the game in your hands later this year. However, it will provide you with a good idea of what the game is about.
So with no further ado let's dive in!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
That's all for today. if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments below!
Previously in Erannorth Renaissance:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1580800/view/3877099642482485816
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2657930/view/3895114675655345502
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2657930/view/3861338313340151645
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2657930/view/3861338313380396150
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2657930/view/3969427874540995356
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2657930/view/4048242136836762652
Today, we'll dive deeper into "Erannorth Renaissance" and discuss exploration, NPCs, and random encounters. Feel free to skip right into the latest video where I go into greater detail on today's topics, or continue reading!
"Erannorth Renaissance" is a Choose Your Own Adventure game featuring combat and exploration on a hex grid. Besides offering a story-rich experience, it also provides a sandbox environment where players can pursue their own agendas and explore its vast world.
[h2]Fog of War and Exploration[/h2]
The world is now covered in a dark layer of mist that gets lifted as you explore. I felt that knowing the layout beforehand detracted from the feeling of exploration and discovery and also made it extremely easy to avoid hostile warbands. Now, the world gets progressively uncovered as you explore it, and certain tiles can be revealed after learning about their location from an NPC.
[h2]Roving Bands[/h2]
The roving bands are hostile groups of enemies that may appear in adjacent tiles as you explore the world. While some have their own agenda and may not engage with you, others may seek you out and engage in combat. Alternatively, you can proactively engage them. Roving Bands can't follow you into towns, nor will they interrupt you while you are in the middle of a story, as the story itself could have its own encounters to fight. However, be cautious, as they may now be hiding in the fog of war.
[h2]Random NPCs[/h2]
The residential district tiles, which occupy the largest part of towns, are now populated by both scripted NPCs and random NPCs. All their traits are procedurally generated, and the interactions with them are handcrafted but random. So, how does this work? When you visit a tile with random NPCs for the first time, these NPCs are permanently assigned to that tile and become residents. They are also assigned a schedule, making them interactable in said tile during a specific segment of the day.
Before interacting with any of them, they are considered strangers. After you interact with them, they can eventually become enemies, rivals, acquaintances, friends, or even lovers (if they are romanceable by your character and you have romances active). Each of these categories comes with a very large pool of random interactions or activities to engage with these NPCs, so they'll feel unique and alive, and the towns livelier.
The initial interactions with these NPCs are role-playing, and you can choose to be nice to them or not. And there is no correct or wrong way to go about it, as each choice you make will open up different opportunities for interaction with them. Eventually, impressing them will get harder; you'll start seeing events that require using your skills to impress them, go out on dates, ask for their help, and many other things.
Please note that the video below contains minor spoilers from the very early game.
This is a very early alpha build of the game (version 0.4.52), and there's still much work ahead. Many elements, such as art and items, are currently placeholders. Therefore, everything we'll see today may change by the time you get the game in your hands later this year. However, it will provide you with a good idea of what the game is about.
So with no further ado let's dive in!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
That's all for today. if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments below!
Previously in Erannorth Renaissance:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1580800/view/3877099642482485816
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2657930/view/3895114675655345502
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2657930/view/3861338313340151645
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2657930/view/3861338313380396150
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2657930/view/3969427874540995356
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2657930/view/4048242136836762652